Strange Happenings In My Carboy

[robertjohnson]

Sure it's happened to others around here, so I just wanted to ask a random question: Sometimes when I get lazy, I rinse out the carboy pretty well but fill it up to soak the brown ring of krausen and hop bits that sticks around. If I'm real lazy and let it sit for about a week, the water always turns brownish and stinks like a septic tank. What gives? Is it e. coli bacteria? Is it just decomposing organic matter? Why's it rotting now and not when it's on the beer?

Not really relevant to anything, but I'm curious.

 

[RyanK2]

LOL! Definitely not e. coli. There is no alcohol left to act as preservative. Let them sit with bleach water.

 

[robertjohnson]

Ha, thanks Ryan. I thought it might be related to the preserving properties of beer, via pH or alcohol. It's amazing how fast it starts to stink when the beer is removed. I was just curious about e. coli because I'd been reading about wild fermentation and saw e. coli is usually the first thing to takeover and can produce a similar smell. It really does smell exactly like a septic system!

 

[Special Hops]

I use oxyclean instead of bleach.

 

[RyanK2]

Oxyclean is good too but bleach... well.. you KNOW its clean.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Mine never smells. But I'm the same way. I'll fill it with water, but I always add oxyclean or if I'm out a capfull of bleach.

 

[ongreystreet]

You might have those bad smells in your brew, but malt and hops, and even yeast, can over power a lot of other odors.